E. Bangor Dam Cleanup Set Volunteers Needed Saturday To Clear Creek

A group of local sportsmen are meeting early Saturday to try to restore the flow of water to the stagnant East Bangor Dam, once a popular fishing spot.

The organizer of the project, Bangor resident Owen Owens, said volunteers are needed to clean out Little Meadow Brush Creek, the body of water that the East Bangor lake empties into. Railroad ties, branches and debris have blocked the creek, preventing water from the dam to circulate. As a result, duck weed, a smelly aquatic plant, has grown thick on the surface, he said.

"If the creek is free of debris, water from the dam will flow freer and in turn will get rid of the yellow stuff," said Owens. "We think it would help the dam a whole lot."

The cleanup will begin at 8 a.m. Volunteers should wear waders and bring a rake, shovel or brush clippers, Owens said.

About a month ago, Owens and Montclair Onjack of East Bangor removed a truck tire from the overflow pipe that runs beneath S. Broad Street. The pipe funnels the water from the lake into the creek.

Within a week, the duck weed had cleared from about 50 feet of the lake, Owens said.

Owens said the scum on top of the creek is so thick that last week a frog jumped on it and didn't sink. "It must be between 2 and 3 inches thick," he said.

The two men have also received a permit from the state Fish and Boat Commission to drive a motor boat on the lake to try and rid the dam of underwater vegetation. Owens said they plan to attach a weighted cable to the boat that would pull out the weeds.

"We're going to try and stir things up," Owens said. "There hasn't been any activity on that pond for some time."

In July more than 2,000 fish were discovered dead at the dam. State officials said the fish died from a lack of oxygen caused by aquatic plants on the surface of the lake.

The East Bangor Dam has been the centerpiece of an ongoing debate between local sportsmen and the Fish and Boat Commission.

The Roseto Rod and Gun Club and the Blue Mountain Rod and Gun Club are two groups that have been lobbying the state to clean up the dam and restore it to a prime fishing hole. But the commission, in a report released this spring, said it would cost too much and recommended allowing it to regress to a wetland.

Last week, officials from the Wildlands Conservancy, a private organization in Emmaus, toured the dam and concluded that is was an ideal habitat for waterfowl and should be left alone.

The conservancy acquires land with private funds for environmental uses.

The lake straddles Upper Mount Bethel Township and East Bangor but is owned by the Fish and Boat Commission. Earlier this month, the commission offered to transfer ownership of the dam to the local governments for $1, but municipalities said they could not afford to maintain it.

Upper Mount Bethel Township supervisor Jerry Geake, who is also a member of the Rod and Gun Club, said he did not know whether clearing the creek will do any good in the long run. "If they think it's going to help it will help mentally if nothing else," he said. "I know conscientiously they're trying to do something, but whether it will help next year I don't know."